An airborne unit of the Tajik army during exercises in southern Tajikistan (file photo) (ITAR-TASS)
June 13, 2006 -- Tajik border guards have accused neighboring Uzbekistan of sheltering rebels.

In a statement, the border guards said antigovernment fighters are occasionally crossing into Uzbekistan to meet up with Mahmud Khudoiberdiev, a former Tajik army colonel who led about 1,000 fighters in an attack on Tajikistan's Soghd region in 1998.

The Tajik border guards said Uzbekistan had ignored several requests to extradite fighters wanted by Tajikistan.